Book 'War, the world's only hygiene'

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English

This book by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti (1876-1944) was first published in Paris in 1909, and reprinted in Italian in 1915 for propaganda purposes. It is a collection of posters and texts focused on patriotism, the military, war, and anti-socialist and anti-clerical campaigns. Its aim was to prepare ‘an Italy bigger, stronger, more advanced and more innovating, an Italy freed from its glorious past and able to create a new immense future’.

Marinetti was an Italian poet and author, and a key figure in the Futurist Movement. The movement envisaged a future dominated by technology, industry, speed, violence and youth. In his Futurist Manifesto (1909), Marinetti wrote ‘We will glorify war – the world’s only hygiene’, part of which can be seen on the cover of this collection. Marinetti had a strong nationalist anti-parliamentary and undemocratic ideology. He supported an intense campaign in favour of Italy joining the war.

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